Please excuse the lack of photos in some of my older posts as I am trying to slowly go back through and add the photos that were accidentally deleted

June 25, 2011

Chicken Corn Chowder

Happy weekend! It can't come soon enough, can it? I'm back with another comforting meal. This soup, it's a keeper. I wasn't sure how we would feel about it, but it had so much flavor. I love the sweetness of the corn, the heartiness of the potatoes, the creaminess. And you guys already know how I feel about bacon. I don't think I even need to go there.

I made a few changes to the original recipe. We didn't add the celery. I used 4 slices of center cut bacon. I used 4 small red potatoes instead of the canned kind called for in the recipe, and boiled them first for 20 minutes. And added some salt too to taste.

In a large pot, bring cold water and a pinch of salt to a boil. Boil potatoes for 20 minutes or so. Remove and dice potatoes.

Meanwhile, in a separate large pot, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove the bacon, drain the fat leaving 2 tbsp in the pot. Add chicken and cook over medium heat until no longer pink and cooked through. Add onion and bell pepper and saute for 2 minutes. Stir in flour. Cook for 1 minute. Stir in half and half. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Puree 2 cups of corn in a blender. Add to the pot. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally for 1 minute. Stir in pepper, potatoes, and remaining corn. Heat through. Stir in bacon. Serve immediately.Season with salt, to taste.

This is the perfect autumn or winter comfort food to warm you up on a cool night. I'm not a fan of the cold winter by any means, but this soup makes winter a little more bearable. Disregard the fact that I am blogging about this in the middle of summer. I made it back when it was cold out. I would still make this any time during the year, though! It's THAT good.

*Update: While I'm over here going on and on about how this is a fall/winter meal, my friend over at Scrambled Henfruit made me realize that this is just as much a summer meal as it is warming comfort meal. "Think of how good it will be with fresh summer sweet corn!", she commented. Oh Betty, you are so right. And thanks for giving me a perfect reason to make this in the summer :)

So glad you liked the recipe! It's one of my family's favorites! Sometimes, I even precook all of the components ahead of time and then, when I want to make the chowder, I throw it all in the pot a heat it up.

@ Christina - That would cut down on time quite a bit... I could boil the potatoes and cook the chicken and bacon mixture ahead of time! I really need to get better about prepping meals ahead of time and for later use. Love your recipe!

@ Culinary Adventures - It's been awhile since we made this, I really need to make it this summer too with fresh sweet summer corn! Would love to check out your summer corn chowder, do you have a blog?